With the Golden State Warriors on Thursday having won their fourth NBA championship in the past eight years, it’s time to close the books on the 2021-22 NBA season and look ahead to the draft and free agency.
The Portland Trail Blazers acquired Jerami Grant from the Detroit Pistons in exchange for a protected 2025 first-round draft pick and other draft assets.
Here’s the current first-round order for today’s NBA Draft:
Orlando
Oklahoma City
Houston
Sacramento
Detroit
Indiana
Portland
New Orleans (from Los Angeles Lakers)
San Antonio
Washington
New York
Oklahoma City (from LA Clippers)
Charlotte
Cleveland
Charlotte (from New Orleans)
Atlanta
Houston (from Brooklyn)
Chicago
Minnesota
San Antonio (from Toronto)
Denver
Memphis (from Utah)
Philadelphia
Milwaukee
San Antonio (from Boston)
Dallas
Miami
Golden State
Memphis
Oklahoma City (from Phoenix)
My Indiana Pacers will draft 6th, the highest they’ve drafted since they got Rik Smits second overall in 1988.
Wizards take Johnny Davis out of Wisconsin. ESPN says he’s the most improved player in college basketball this past season.
Sorry, son. Prepare for that progress to hit a brick wall. Hopefully you break through like the Kool-Aid Man, but I have extremely little faith in this team’s coaching and management.
Irving has six teams on his radar, all of whom could only acquire him through a sign-and-trade: The Lakers, Clippers, Knicks, Heat, 76ers, and Mavericks.
More on Irving: The Los Angeles Lakers are apparently the only team interested in doing a sign-and-trade to acquire Irving.
He has until Wednesday to decide whether to exercise his $36.5 million option on next year. If he does, he’s not eligible for a sign-and-trade. But the Nets could trade him for an expiring contract.
Irving could join the Lakers by declining the option and signing with LA for the $6 million taxpayer mid-level exception.
It’s worse than that; the Kings passed up on Luka Doncic because Vlade Divac had a beef with Luka’s father Sasha in the EuroLeague back in the 1980s. No wonder the Kings haven’t had a winning season in nearly two decades.
No; you’d have to be a damn fool to pay $47.1 million for 2022-era Russell Westbrook. And after he becomes a free agent after this year, he’ll never make that much again.
The New York Knicks have traded Nerlens Noel, Alec Burks, two second-round picks, and $6 million in cash to the Detroit Pistons. No word yet on what the Knicks are getting in return.
This frees up about $30 million in cap space which the Knicks are apparently planning to use to entice Dallas’s Jalen Brunson, an unrestricted free agent, to join them this summer.
Washington and Denver swap KCP and Ish Smith for Monte Morris and Will Barton. Wizards HC Unseld Jr. was an assistant coach in Denver before taking the head job in DC.
James Harden has declined his $47.3 million option with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Bradley Beal has declined his option with the Washington Wizards. He’ll have two choices this summer: Sign a new five-year deal with Washington, or a four-year deal with another team.
The Atlanta Hawks have acquired All-Star guard Dejounte Murray from the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Danilo Gallinari and three first-round picks. The trade also includes a future pick swap.
Incidentally, Dejounte Murray finished last year as the first player in NBA history to average 20 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, and 2 steals a game. He finished second in the Most Improved Player voting, behind Ja Morant. He also owns the Spurs’ record for career triple-doubles.
Free-agent Miles Bridges, who averaged 20.2 points and 7 rebounds in his fourth year with the Charlotte Hornets last year, has been arrested for felony domestic violence.
